Everybody remembers the sad old comedy, as differently interpreted in
its graver sentiment as there are different interpreters. Ruth had
seen one who made of Shylock merely a fawning, mercenary, loveless,
blood-thirsty wretch. She had seen another who presented a man of quick
wit, ready tongue, great dignity, greater vengeance, silent of love,
wordy of hate. Booth, without throwing any romantic glamour on the Jew,
showed him as God and man, but mostly man, had made him: an old Jew,
grown bitter in the world’s disfavor through fault of race; grown old in
strife for the only worldly power vouchsafed him,--gold; grown old with
but one human love to lighten his hard existence; a man who, at length,
shorn of his two loves through the same medium that robbed him of his
manly birthright, now turned fiend, endeavors with tooth and nail
to wreak the smouldering vengeance of a lifetime upon the chance
representative of an inexorable persecution.
All through the performance Ruth sat a silent, attentive listener. Kemp,
with his ready laugh at Gratiano’s sallies, would turn a quick look at
her for sympathy; he was rather surprised at the grave, unsmiling
face beside him. When, however, the old Jew staggered alone and almost
blindly from the triumphantly smiling court-room, a little pinch on his
arm decidedly startled him.
He lowered his glass and turned round on her so suddenly that Ruth
started.
“Oh,” she faltered, “I--I beg your pardon; I had forgotten you were not
Louis.”
“I do not mind in the least,” he assured her easily.
The last act passes merrily and quickly; only the severe, great things
of life move slowly.
As the doctor and Ruth made their way through the crowded lobby, the
latter thought she had never seen so many acquaintances, each of whom
turned an interested look at her stalwart escort. Of this she was
perfectly aware, but the same human interest with which Kemp’s
acquaintances regarded her passed by her unnoticed.
A moment later they were in the fresh, open air.
“How beautiful it is!” said Ruth, looking up at the stars. “The wind has
entirely died away.”
“‘On such a night,’” quoth Kemp, as they approached the curb, “a closed
carriage seems out of season.”
“And reason,” supplemented Ruth, while the doctor opened the door rather
slowly. She glanced at him hesitatingly.
“Would you--” she began.
“Right! I would!” The door was banged to.
“John,” he said, looking up at his man in the box, “take this trap round
to the stable; I shall not need the horses again to-night.”
John touched his hat, and Kemp drew his companion’s little hand through
his arm.
“Well,” he said, as they turned the corner, “Were you satisfied with the
great man to-night?”
“Yes,” she replied meditatively, “fully; there was no exaggeration,--it
was all quite natural.”
“Except Jessica in boy’s clothes.”
“Don’t mention her, please; I detest her.”
“And yet she spoke quite prettily on the night.”
“I did not hear her.”
“Why, where were you while all the world was making merry on the stage?”
“Not with them; I was with the weary, heart-broken old man who passed
out when joy began.”
“Ah! I fancied you did not half appreciate Gratiano’s jesting. Miss
Levice, I am afraid you allow the sorry things of life to take too
strong a hold on you. It is not right. I assure you for every tear there
is a laugh, and you must learn to forget the former in the latter.”
“I am sorry,” replied Ruth, quite sadly; “but I fear I cannot learn
that,--tears are always stronger than laughter. How could I listen to
the others’ nonsense when my heart was sobbing with that lonely old man?
Forgive me, but I cannot forget him.”
They walked along silently for some time. Instinctively, each felt the
perfect accord with which they kept step. Ruth’s little ear was just
about on a level with the doctor’s chin. He hardly felt the soft touch
of her hand upon his sleeve; but as he looked at the white profile of
her cheek against the dark fur of her collar, the knowledge that she was
there was a pleasing one.
“Did you consider the length of our walk when you fell in with my
desire?” he asked presently.
“I like a long walk in pleasant weather; I never tire of walking.”
“You have found the essentials of a good pedestrian,--health and
strength.”
“Yes; if everybody were like me, all your skill would be thrown away,--I
am never ill.”
“Apparently there is no reason why you should be, with common-sense to
back your blessings. If common-sense could be bought at the drug-store,
I should be rid of a great many patients.”
“That reminds me of a snatch of conversation I once overheard between
my mother and a doctor’s wife. I am reminded of it because the spirit
of your meaning is diametrically opposed to her own. After some talk my
mother asked, ‘And how is the doctor?’ ‘Oh,’ replied the visitor, with
a long sigh, ‘he’s well enough in body, but he’s blue, terribly blue;
everybody is so well, you know.’”
“Her sentiment was more human than humane,” laughed Kemp. He was glad to
see that she had roused herself from her sad musings; but a certain set
purpose he had formed robbed him now of his former lightness of manner.
He was about to broach a subject that required delicate handling; but an
intuitive knowledge of the womanly character of the young girl aided
him much. It was not so much what he had seen her do as what he knew she
was, that led him to begin his recital.
“We have a good many blocks before us yet,” he said, “and I am going to
tell you a little story. Why don’t you take the full benefit of my arm?
There,” he proceeded, drawing her hand farther through his arm, “now
you feel more like a big girl than like a bit of thistledown. If I get
tiresome, just call ‘time,’ will you?”
“All right,” she laughed. She was beginning to meet halfway this
matter-of-fact, unadorned, friendly manner of his; and when she did meet
it, she felt a comfortable security in it. From the beginning to the end
of his short narrative he looked straight ahead.
“How shall I begin? Do you like fairy tales? Well, this is the soul of
one without the fictional wings. Once upon a time,--I think that is the
very best introduction extant,--a woman was left a widow with one little
girl. She lived in New Orleans, where the blow of her husband’s death
and the loss of her good fortune came almost simultaneously. She must
have had little moral courage, for as soon as she could, she left her
home, not being able to bear the inevitable falling off of friends
that follows loss of fortune. She wandered over the intermediate States
between here and Louisiana, stopping nowhere long, but endeavoring to
keep together the bodies and souls of herself and child by teaching.
They kept this up for years until the mother succumbed. They were on
the way from Nevada to Los Angeles when she died. The daughter, then
not eighteen, went on to Los Angeles, where she buried her mother, and
endeavored to continue teaching as she had been doing. She was young,
unsophisticated, sad, and in want in a strange town. She applied for
advice to a man highly honored and recommended by his fellow-citizens.
The man played the brute. The girl fled--anywhere. Had she been less
brave, she would have fled from herself. She came to San Francisco and
took a position as nurse-girl; children, she thought, could not play her
false, and she might outlive it. The hope was cruel. She was living near
my home, had seen my sign probably, and in the extremity of her distress
came to me. There is a good woman who keeps a lodging-house, and who
delights in doing me favors. I left the poor child in her hands, and she
is now fully recovered. As a physician I can do no more for her, and yet
melancholy has almost made a wreck of her. Nothing I say has any effect;
all she answers is, ‘It isn’t worth while.’ I understand her perfectly,
but I wished to infuse into her some of her old spirit of independence.
This morning I asked her if she intended to let herself drift on in
this way. I may have spoken a little more harshly than necessary, for
my words broke down completely the wall of dogged silence she had built
around herself. ‘Oh, sir,’ she cried, weeping like the child she is,
‘what can I do? Can I dare to take little children by the hand, stained
as I am? Can I go as an impostor where, if people knew, they would
snatch their loved ones from me? Oh, it would be too wretched!’ I tried
to remonstrate with her, told her that the lily in the dust is no less
a lily than is her spotless sister held high above contamination. She
looked at me miserably from her tear-stained face, and then said, ‘Men
may think so, but women don’t; a stain with them is ignoble whether made
by one’s self or another. No woman knowing my story would think me
free from dishonor, and hold out her clean hands to me.’ ‘Plenty,’ I
contradicted. ‘Maybe,’ she said humbly; ‘but what would it mean? The
hand would be held out at arm’s length by women safe in their position,
who would not fail to show me how debased they think me. I am young yet;
can you show me a girl, like myself in years, but white as snow, kept
safe from contamination, as you say, who, knowing my story, would hold
out her hand to me and not feel herself besmirched by the contact? Do
not say you can, for I know you cannot.’ She was crying so violently
that she would not listen to me. When I left her, I myself could think
of none of my young friends to whom I could propound the question. I
know many sweet, kind girls, but I could count not one among them all
who in such a case would be brave as she was womanly--until I thought of
you.”
Complete silence followed his words. He did not turn his glance from the
street ahead of him. He had made no appeal, would make none, in fact. He
had told the story with scarcely a reflection on its impropriety, that
would have arrested another man from introducing such an element into
his gentle fellowship with a girl like Ruth. His lack of hesitancy
was born of his manly view of the outcast’s blamelessness, of her dire
necessity for help, and of a premonition that Ruth Levice would be as
free from the artificiality of conventional surface modesty as was he,
through the earnestness of the undertaking.
There is something very sweet to a woman in being singled out by a man
for some ennobling virtue. Ruth felt this so strongly that she could
almost hear her heart beat with the intoxicating knowledge. No question
had been asked, but she felt an answer was expected. Yet had her life
depended on it, the words could not have come at that moment. Was she
indeed what he esteemed her? Unconsciously Dr. Kemp had, in thought,
placed her on a pedestal. Did she deserve the high place he had given
her, or would she?
With many women the question would have been, did she care for Dr.
Kemp’s good opinion? Now, though Ruth was indeed put on her mettle, her
quick sympathy had been instantly touched by the girl’s miserable story.
Perhaps the doctor’s own feelings had influenced her, but had the girl
stood before her at the moment, she would have seized her hand with all
her own gentle nobility of soul.
As they turned the corner of the block where Ruth’s house stood, Kemp
said deliberately,--
“Well?”
“I thank you. Where does she live?”
Her quiet, natural tone told nothing of the tumult of sweet thoughts
within. They had reached the house, and the doctor opened the gate
before he answered. When he did, after they had passed through, he took
both her hands in his.
“I shall take you there,” he said, looking down at her with grave,
smiling eyes; “I knew you would not fail me. When shall I call for you?”
“Do not call for me at all; I think--I know it will be better for me to
walk in alone, as of my own accord.”
“Ah, yes!” he said, and told her the address. She ran lightly up the
steps, and as he turned her key in the door for her, she raised a pair
of starry eyes to his.
“Dr. Kemp,” she said, “I have had an exceptionally lovely evening. I
shall not soon forget it.”
“Nor I,” he returned, raising his hat; holding it in his hand, he gently
raised her gloved hand to his lips. Herbert Kemp was a gentleman of the
old school in his manner of showing reverence to women.
“My brave young friend!” he said; and the next minute his firm footfall
was crunching the gravel of the walk. Neither of them had remembered
that he was to have come in with her. She waited till the gate clicked
behind him, and then softly closed the heavy door.
“My brave young friend!” The words mounted like wine to her head. She
forgot her surroundings and stood in a sweet dream in the hall, slowly
unbuttoning her glove. She must have remained in this attitude for five
minutes, when, raising her eyes, still shadowy with thought, she saw her
cousin before her down the hall, his arm resting on the newel-post.
“Louis!” she cried in surprise; and without considering, she hurried to
him, threw her arm around his neck, and kissed him on the cheek. Arnold,
taken by storm, stepped slightly back.
“When did you get home?” she asked, the pale rose-flush that mantled her
cheeks making her face exquisite.
“A half an hour ago.”
She looked at him quickly.
“Are you tired, Louis?” she inquired gently. “You are somewhat pale, and
you speak in that way.”
“Did you enjoy the play?” he asked quietly, passing by her remarks.
“The play!” she echoed, and then a quick burning blush suffused
her face. The epilogue had wholly obliterated the play from her
recollection.
“Oh, of course,” she responded, turning from the rather sardonic smile
of his lips and seating herself on the stairs; “do you want to hear
about it now?”
“Why not?”
“Well,” she began, laying her gloves in her lap and snuggling her chin
in the palms of her hands, “shall I tell you how I felt about it? In
the first place, I was not ashamed of Shylock; if his vengeance was
distorted, the cause distorted it. But, oh, Louis, the misery of that
poor old man! After all, his punishment was as fiendish as his guilt.
Booth was great. I wish you could have seen the play of his wonderful
eyebrow and the eloquence of his fine hand. Poor old, lonely Shylock!
With all his intellect, how could he regret that wretched little
Jessica?”
“He was a Jewish father.”
“How singularly you say that! Of course he was a Jew; but Jewish hardly
describes him,--at least, according to the modern idea. Are you coming
up?”
“Yes. Go on; I will lower the gas.”
“Wouldn’t you like something to eat or drink? You look so worn out; let
me get you something.”
“Thanks; I have dined. Good-night.” The girl passed on to her pretty
white and gold room. Shylock had again fled from her memory, but there
was singing in her heart a deep, grave voice saying,--
“My brave young friend!”